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Brock Lesnar
In 2000, after leaving college, Lesnar signed up with the World Wrestling Federation. He was sent to its developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. There, he formed a tag team known as the "The Minnesota Stretching Crew" with his former college roommate, Shelton Benjamin. Lesnar and Benjamin won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on three occasions. He wrestled several dark matches in 2001 and 2002 before being called up to the main roster. Lesnar debuted on WWF television on the March 18, 2002 episode of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Raw Raw], the night after WrestleMania X8, coming through the crowd and attacking Al Snow, Maven, and Spike Dudley during the course of a match. He was accompanied by Paul Heyman, who was seen giving instructions to Lesnar. When the brand extension was introduced in the WWF, Lesnar was drafted to the Raw brand. Later, Heyman was confirmed to be Lesnar's agent and gave Lesnar the nickname "The Next Big Thing". Brock's first feud was with the Hardy Boyz. Lesnar and Jeff Hardy squared off at Backlash in Lesnar's first official televised match. He won the match by knockout. The next night on Raw Lesnar faced off against Matt Hardy, defeating him in the same fashion. At Judgment Day, Lesnar once again gained the upper hand on the Hardy Boyz before tagging his partner, Heyman, in to make the pin. In June 2002, Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Rob Van Dam in the final round.10 This victory earned him a shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam.26 On July 22, Lesnar joined the SmackDown! brand.27 After a storyline with Hollywood Hulk Hogan in August 2002, Lesnar began feuding with the Undisputed Champion The Rock.28 At the main event of SummerSlam, Lesnar defeated The Rock to become the new and final WWE Undisputed Champion.26 Lesnar, at age 25, was the then-youngest WWE Champion ever (as of 2009, he is still technically the youngest WWE Champion ever, but Randy Orton is the youngest World Champion in WWE history, having won the World Heavyweight Championship at 24).26 Due to the storyline requirements of the WWE Undisputed Championship being defended on both shows, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff expected Lesnar to be able to return to Raw the next night. However, SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Lesnar's contract only required him to defend the title on SmackDown!, forcing Bischoff to create the World Heavyweight Championship for the Raw brand, in turn making the WWE Undisputed Championship lose its "Undisputed" name.29Lesnar's rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a storyline with The Undertaker, which involved a match at Unforgiven.26 It ended in a double disqualification leading to Lesnar retaining the title. The next month, at No Mercy, he faced The Undertaker again, this time in a Hell in a Cell match. Leading up to the match, Lesnar broke the Undertaker's hand with a propane tank.30 Despite Heyman begging McMahon not to let The Undertaker use his cast as a weapon, the request was denied and the match went on as planned.31 In a match that saw both wrestlers and even Heyman covered in blood, it ended when Lesnar reversed an attempted Tombstone piledriver into his finishing F-5 maneuver for the win.26 Six days after his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker, Lesnar successfully retained his WWE title in a Handicap match with Heyman at the Rebellion pay-per-view against Edge.32Lesnar's next storyline opponent was The Big Show. Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title.33 Lesnar refused and lost the championship in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series pay-per-view to Big Show, Lesnar's first pinfall loss in WWE. When the champion tried to pin the 500-pounder following an F-5, he was betrayed by Heyman who pulled the referee out of the ring allowing Big Show to capitalize and win the title. As a result, Lesnar became a fan favorite.34 Following Survivor Series, Heyman made it clear that Lesnar would not get a rematch, even going so far as to sneak a special clause in his contract.35 At the Royal Rumble event in January 2003, Lesnar defeated The Big Show in a qualification match. Lesnar later entered the Rumble as the #29 entrant where he eventually won by eliminating The Undertaker.34 After winning the Royal Rumble match, Lesnar spent the next two months in a scripted feud with WWE champion Kurt Angle, who Lesnar had helped win the title and who also was represented by Paul Heyman. Angle had Heyman, and Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) behind him, but Lesnar overcame these opponents. Lesnar regained the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania XIX. Toward the end of the match, he botched a shooting star press; despite having landed the move successfully several times in OVW, in this match he overestimated the distance he was capable of jumping for the move and under-rotated, slamming his head into Angle's side and ribcage. This stunned Lesnar and forced Angle to improvise the finish of the match. Lesnar suffered a severe concussion from the botched move. Following WrestleMania, John Cena began targeting Lesnar for almost ending his career (by using the F-5 to propel his leg into a ring post) after a previous match between the two. This led to Cena receiving a title match at Backlash in which Lesnar successfully retained the title. Earlier at the Backlash pay-per-view, Big Show had injured Rey Mysterio badly, resulting in Mysterio being carried out on a stretcher. This injury led to Lesnar renewing his feud with Big Show, which led to a Stretcher match at Judgment Day for the title. Lesnar successfully retained his title with help from Rey Mysterio and a forklift. During the scripted rivalry, on SmackDown!, Lesnar lifted Big Show over in a Superplex which caused the ring to collapse on impact. At Vengeance, Lesnar lost his title to Kurt Angle in a No Disqualification Triple Threat match that also involved Big Show. Prior to SummerSlam, Lesnar became a villain by betraying Kurt Angle, leading to a rematch at the event.39 Lesnar lost to Angle when Angle made Lesnar tap out to the ankle lock.40 A second rematch between Lesnar and Angle, an Iron Man match, was later held on an episode of SmackDown!. Lesnar defeated Angle in a match that was said as one of the best in SmackDown! history.41 Angle slapped on the ankle lock with a few seconds remaining but Lesnar did not tap. Lesnar won with five falls to Angle's four, making him a three-time WWE Champion.42 Lesnar's first challenger for his newly won title was The Undertaker. Lesnar had previously cost Undertaker the title in a match against then-champion Kurt Angle, which granted him a shot at Lesnar's title.43 At No Mercy, Lesnar defeated Undertaker in a Biker Chain match.44Lesnar realigned himself with Paul Heyman after Heyman became General Manager of SmackDown! and formed Team Lesnar with Big Show, Matt Morgan, A-Train, and Nathan Jones for a 10-man Survivor Series match at Survivor Series.45 In the climax of the match, Chris Benoit became the second person to make Lesnar tap out.44 Lesnar faced Benoit in a singles bout two weeks later for the WWE Championship on SmackDown!, where Lesnar won after Benoit passed out to Lesnar's debuting Brock Lock submission hold.46 The Survivor Series event also marked the first time Lesnar met Goldberg from the Raw brand, a man to whom Lesnar had been compared due to their similar physiques and undefeated streaks in wrestling. Lesnar claimed in a backstage interview that he could beat anybody in the world, leading to Goldberg interrupting the interview and introducing himself to Lesnar, shaking hands with him before leaving with a staredown. Lesnar followed this rivalry with a brief feud involving Hardcore Holly. In this storyline, Holly wanted revenge on Lesnar for legitimately breaking his neck during a previous match between the two in 2002. During that match, Lesnar went for a powerbomb, but Holly, who has gained a reputation of being uncooperative with rookies, supposedly sandbagged mid-lift so that Lesnar could not get him all the way up. Holly compounded the difficulty of the move by not lifting up at the waist. During the struggle, Lesnar ended up dropping Holly on his head, leaving him in need of neck surgery and out of action for a year. At the Royal Rumble in 2004, Lesnar made short work of Holly and quickly defeated him with ease to retain the WWE Championship. Later in the Royal Rumble match, Lesnar attacked Goldberg and delivered an F-5, enabling Kurt Angle to eliminate him. In February, Lesnar faced Eddie Guerrero for the title at No Way Out. During the match, Goldberg interfered in the match, allowing Guerrero to capitalize and pin Lesnar after a frog splash to win the WWE Championship. The match set up an interbrand match for WrestleMania XX between Lesnar and Goldberg. During the feud with Goldberg, Lesnar also was feuding with Raw's Stone Cold Steve Austin (who was shown suggesting to Goldberg that he attack Lesnar at No Way Out). When Lesnar attacked Austin on Raw and stole his four-wheeler, Austin was inserted as the special guest referee for the WrestleMania match. Behind the scenes, it was widely known that the match would be Goldberg's last in WWE. Only a week before WrestleMania, however, rumors surfaced that Lesnar, too, was leaving in order to pursue a career in the National Football League. As a result, Lesnar's match with Goldberg became a fiasco as the fans at Madison Square Garden jeered both wrestlers with very loud and distinct chants of "na na, hey hey goodbye" and "you sold out," with the crowd support mostly given to special referee Austin. Although Goldberg won the match, both men were given a Stone Cold Stunner by Austin on their way out. Category:Alumni